Some years ago!

For all Morris J type Vans, Morris JB vans and (BMC 50's vehicles)Torque! e-mail fiftiesvehicles@mail.com.
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Thursday, 26 January 2012

The new Wolseley has a couple of faults, one the starter motor fails to engage sometimes and water is leaking out of the radiator overflow pipe.
So first job remove the starter motor.

Having stripped it down to check the carbon brushes and commutator which are all in very good condition the obvious problem was the bendix gear sticking on its shaft.

A full clean and all was working correctly.

So I just have to brave the cold wind and rain tonight to refit it.

The second problem is that there is water weeping from the radiator overflow. Now they have designed it so that the distributor is placed underneath the filler cap so any splashes or leakage will drip on the Distributor cap.

On checking the overflow pipe it is loose and needs re-soldering or sealing. Now thinking about this, water should only be expelled if the engine is boiling over which our engine has certainly not been doing.

So I checked the radiator cap, yes correct 4lb type but wrong length.

Did you know you can get two different "lengths"?

Yes we had the wrong one fitted, so even with it on correctly the radiator sealing rubber was not sealing the neck of the radiator.

An easy fix, fit the correct cap and now the distributor will keep dry and as we have a temperature gauge fitted I doubt we will ever let the engine get too hot to boil over.Chris clorby has been reading this.

Sunday, 22 January 2012

The new car has been delivered, my better half who has bought this car had been worried that her "new" car had got lost but it arrived slightly late Saturday afternoon. Why a Wolseley? My idea her money. Well a bit of 1950's quality motoring for a very reasonable price. These are now rare vehicles, there are less road worthy Wolseley 6/80's in Britain than J type vans. Now thats rare.

Now the delivery driver has a J type and he purchased and collected my spare JB chassis. Here are a few views of it and some other old J van panels.

If any one want's any of these old panels they can be had for a for a small donation.

Early lower engine cover, various side/floor sections.

Drivers inner wing and radiator support panel.

Second type, late side valve early JB engine cover.

What's this? Why its a 1960's tool cart, for it to be road legal it has to have the trailer board fitted, the original single rear side and stop lamp is not good enough. The trailer board is held on with two wing nuts so on the rally field it can be easily removed. QB9901 is a fleet number.

Its nearly finished, just some more painting to do. It was my winter project, I must finish it soon so it can be used. Thanks for donating it to me G.S.

Sunday, 15 January 2012

The New Year has a slow start or so it seems. Having paid for a new project vehicle one month ago you might be surprised to know it still is in the same place, about 215 miles north of me.
To say I'm rather fed up with the situation is an understatement. My ears are being bent by she who must be obeyed. The sooner it arrives here the sooner a rather large amount of TLC (tender loving care) can be give to it.
On to J types, mine is all wrapped up, these recent frosts have slowed me down on vehicle maintenance and I seem to be getting more lazy in my old age.
One job I had tackled was the propeller shaft on my Morris Minor which I'm using to and from work as the MOT on the motor bike has expired and I have had little time to take it for the MOT test.
The propeller shaft seemed fine on the car but now and then when moving off I could hear a slight "ting" from either the propeller shaft or rear axle. I was worried that one of my half shafts was cracking up so I swapped the cars propeller shaft with the one from OLJ470 the project Morris Minor pick-up.
This seemed to prove the point that the noise was indeed from the propeller shaft as the noise has not happened again. What has happened is that this propeller shaft is out of balance and give a good resonance buzz at certain road speeds. So I have rebuilt my old one.
Funny old world, as I had just gained an e-mail from a fellow J owner telling me he had just managed to buy two universal joint on e-bay for £20 each, you know the original type with a grease nipple. These "RARE" items were in a 7 day auction.
I just had to upset him by saying he had been "done", I feel there are few bargains on e-bay now, every vehicle spare part has the word "rare" in its title.
I explained I had just bought two universal joints for my Morris Minor, these are the same as a J type, in fact used on most 1950's 1960's British vehicles it would seem. I paid £5.95 each plus VAT and p+p.

Yes my new universal joints had grease nipples as well. Got them next day as well.

Here are pictures of me reassembling my Morris Minor propeller shaft.

Each lob of the joint has been marked so it all goes together as it came apart to try to keep it balanced.

About to fit the last end cap.

The last end cap nearly pushed in fully just a little further and then the spring retaining clip can be fitted into its groove.

Some months ago, pictures of 629 BXE were posted on the photo sharing site Flickr. Almost at the same time a fellow J owner sent me further pictures, the one above being a close up of a rather sad 1960 GPO van with windows cut into one side. Its a shame that this vehicle was attending rallies in the mid 1990's and has now got into this state.

Further recent pictures show the area where the van is located is now being cleared, the old fences which gave the van some protection are falling down.

I doubt if this van will be there for very much longer, a scrap man or the local council will soon have no option but to remove it.
Who owns it? The last known owner was the well known Mr Chris Graham, who also owns a further 15/18 J types, many in similar condition to the above one. He lives in Leicester, but works in London. I'm told. I have no contact details for him and I have no idea exactly where this van is, I wish I did.Could somebody please save this van. If I was nearer I know I would.